Headhunters Hideaway, a Home Tiki Bar

 Glendale, AZ

A tropical oasis in the heart of Glendale, AZ

Home Tiki

The other day Josh and I headed out to Glendale to visit a vintage Disney friend.  Tim and I worked together in the 90s and we both have a fondness for Tiki Bars.  He moved to Arizona in 1999 and now he has his own Tiki Bar.  I was invited to visit him and he was kind enough to let me bring Josh along.

Headhunters Hideaway is a beautiful bar with a great rum selection.  

The entrance is just inside the front door and he has it set up so that you really feel like you are in a separate bar.  He has a great playlist of exotica music playing and comfortable seating.

If you are familiar with Disneyland, you will find many Easter eggs hidden within The Hideaway.

Tim's glassware selection is amazing.  This glass is from Untertow, a local Tiki Bar, but he also has mugs from Trader Sams at Disneyland and other fine mugs from all over.

After we sat down Tim handed us a menu.  This was the moment I realized he took this bartending seriously.  This was also reflected with his fresh squeezed fruit juice, his bar quality Pellet Ice, and his great rum selection.  Both Josh and I ordered An Eastern Sour and soon we were sipping and catching up.  The drink was fantastic.

He has some cool Jungle Cruise and Tiki Room pieces too.  

I loved these lights.  We have been to Tiki Bars that are speakeasys and they are only identified by lights like these.  

We had a great afternoon of telling Josh Disney Stories and talking about Tiki Bars we have been to.  Later that afternoon we got lunch at Peoria Artisan Brewery. 

That's it for today.  If you missed Sipping Santa and Johnny Cab, check it out.  We rode in a driverless car!

Sippin' Santa and Johnny Cab

 Phoenix, AZ

Cheese Making

This morning I followed a recipe I got off of Chainbaker and made Mozzarella Cheese using whole milk and vinegar.  I will use the whey to make the pizza dough.  Getting the cheese to curdle was pretty easy but I don't know how they expect you to kneed 160 degree cheese to get it smooth.  My soft hands just aren't up to that task so the cheese is not smooth.  

Making cheese was fun but I probably won't do it again.  There is a lot of good cheese at the supermarket.

Sippin' Santa

This afternoon we took the bus to Bitter & Twisted for the Sippin' Santa Tiki Pop-up.  We went to this event last year when we were in New Orleans.  

Bitter & Twisted is a cocktail bar, with some major awards for their drinks, the bar, and their menu.  This time of year they decorate for Christmas and serve Tiki Drinks.

Santa!

After Bitter & Twisted, we realized we were only 2 blocks away from one of the Ramen places we wanted to try so we walked over there for dinner.  

Ramen Kagawa is in downtown Phoenix.  

After dinner I called a Waymo.  Waymo is a driverless taxi service here in Phoenix and in a few other markets.  After signing up I got 5 half price rides so it was cool to ride in a "Johnny Cab" and only pay a few bucks to do it.

We took the obligatory photos of a car driving with no driver and watched as it skillfully made turns and identified other cars on monitor in the back seat.  At one point Donna saw a cyclists cutting across the street in front of us but they didn't display on the monitor.  I assume the car saw them but we can't be sure.  The car has lots of sensors and spinning things on the outside corners of the vehicle.

Having a robotic Johnny Cab driver is creepier than having no driver at all in my opinion.

That's it for today.  If you missed A Nice Pinball Surprise in Surprise, check it out.

A Nice Pinball Surprise in Surprise

 Surprise, AZ

I don't always take selfies in the restroom but when I do it's with Dana, Zuul, and The Keymaster.

Pinball Tournament in Surprise

This morning my brother in law, Josh, and I drove, what seemed like half way to Las Vegas, to play in a pinball tournament at Player 1 Arcade in Surprise, AZ.  It ended up being totally worth it.  The people were great and the director was great.  They even paused after round 2 (before anyone was knocked out) to give away Stern Banners, Starbucks Gift Certificates, Beer Mugs, and other things.  I didn't win anything but Josh was a winner.

They had cameras on the playfields with monitors above showing the action.  You could watch players play while still standing back.

The spin to win feature was really fun.  I think more than half of the players won somehting.

Josh won a Miller Light Holiday Pom Beanie (an $18 value!)

One of the bathroom walls had an Oingo Boingo mural.

The Member Mug Club had nice lockers attached to a dry cleaning track.  Members would use the button to rotate the rack and get their mug.

It was a 3 strikes tournament.  3rd and 4th got 1 strike and 3 strikes and yer out!  I did really well.  Sadly I had a terrible ball on my 2nd game of Rush and I tilted my 2nd ball during Multiball on Stranger Things.

I was tied for 7th.  You can see I finished above #525 and #256 and #328 in The World.  I will take it!

It was a really fun tournament and I will play in it once more before we leave for Las Vegas.  I think Josh really enjoyed his time too and will be playing in it again.

That's it for today.  If you missed The Phoenix Art Museum, check it out.